Axles Swap

With the cab swap done, I began to think about making some changes to the Dakota. Since I bought it, I didn't originally want to make many changes. I had a Ramcharger that I had been building. But as the years went by and it looked more and more like I wasn't ever going to complete the Ramcharger, I started thinking about adding a little lift, put on some bigger tires and so on. The problem was with the Dakota was the front end really wasn't designed for lift and larger tires. The differential is made out of aluminum and the shafts are pretty twiggy. The worse part of the design was the crappy unit hub, wheel bearings, which wore out on a moment's notice. Since I owned the Dak, I've had to replace 4 pairs of bearings, and at $130 a pop, I figured I could have done a solid axle swap. So I began to think in those terms. A solid axle would allow me to add bigger tires, go with a bit of lift be very durable, and finally eliminate those crappy bearings.

So I began looking for a solid axle to swap in. It wasn't long when I found a pair of Dana 44s out of a Wagoneer, and I decided to buy them;

The plan was pretty simple. I would hire a shop to help install these axles under my Dakota. But shortly after I began to get the ball rolling in that direction, the plan began to change. One day, I had gone down to the store in my wife's grocery getter, when I heard the distinct sound of a 4BT Cummins. When I looked up I saw an early model Bronco pull into the space next to me. It was wearing chrome "C" badges which signified that the Bronco was powered by a Cummins. I was in awe. Later that day, I was introduced to yet another vehicle which also had a 4BT. I ran over to a salvage yard to look for parts I needed. In the parking lot was a very nice looking Jeep. I also noticed some decals on the rear of the truck. One was the Cummins "C" logo, the other said "Bruiser". Later when I looked up Bruiser, I discovered that they were a company which specialized in Cummins conversions for Jeeps.

This got me to thinking. I dropped a Cummins into my Ramcharger but never got to finish it. It would had been great to have seen it on the road. Now I was thinking about putting a 4BT into my Dakota. I began investigating the possibility. I was going to need a tranny to do this type of swap. One day I managed to find a tranny. I had gone searching thru one of the local junk yards when I came across a 98 4x4 Ram 3500 dually with a V10 under the hood. Initially, I had walked by it when it struck me that, there was my transmission that I needed to swap in a 4BT. So I pulled it out and bought it. I now had a tranny with a t-case. All I would need now was the elusive 4BT.

For the next few months, I couldn't find a good 4BT locally. Everything else was too expensive and would require shipping. So without a suitable 4BT, I began to think in a different direction. While I couldn't find a 4BT, I already happen to own a 6BT and it was just sitting there under the hood of the Ramcharger, wasting away. So I made an executive decision. I would pull the 6BT out of the Ramcharger and install it into the Dakota. To do it, I had to forget using the Dana 44s. I was going to need bigger axles. The problem was I couldn't use the Dana 60 that was in the Ramcharger, due to it being a passenger side differential. The t-case on the tranny was a driver's side drop. So I went back to the same junk yard and pulled the Dana 60 front axle that was in the same truck I got the tranny out of.